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From issue: August 2000

Sacred Reefs Now Protected

by Nick Tupara

Four reefs off Turanganui (Gisborne) have been registered as a wahi tapu area by the Historic Places Trust's Maori Heritage Council.

Visitors to Gisborne's Kaiti Hill lookout whose thoughts turn to the area's history are likely to think first of the European navigator, James Cook. His statue stands nearby, and on the far side of the broad sweep of Poverty Bay, Young Nick's Head, Cook's first landfall in New Zealand in 1769, breaks the distant horizon. But closer by are reminders of the area's older history. In the foreground of the spectacular sea view from the lookout, reefs break the surface of the restless ocean

The view south across Poverty Bay from below Kaiti Hill. The sea in the foreground is the location of the wahi tapu reefs. Photo: Dunstan & Kinge, Gisborne

To modern seafarers, heading into or out from Gisborne's river port, the reefs are bothersome obstacles to be avoided or favourite fishing places. But to the Tairawhiti (the east coast of the North Island) hapu, Ngati Oneone, these reefs are of great cultural significance, markers of their traditional past.

In December 1999 the Historic Places Trust's Maori Heritage Council considered a proposal from Ngati Oneone that the reefs be registered as a wahi tapu area. The Council was satisfied that the proposal was supported by sufficient evidence, as required under the Historic Places Act (section 32.3), and that the reefs met the criteria for registration. The area embracing them was duly entered on the register as a wahi tapu area under the designation Nga Kohatu Tuturu o Turanganui a Kiwa - Tokomaru, Waihora, Te Moana, Hawea. The four named reefs which lie within the wahi tapu area are considered mauri stones (spiritual places), tauranga ika (anchorages for canoes), kaimoana sites (places for gathering seafood) and kainga (living places) for taniwha and kaitiaki (guardians of the ocean).

One of these kaitiaki is a shark, which is believed to be the shark depicted on the meeting house Te Mana o Turanga at Whakato Marae, Manutuke. For some the shark goes by the name Ikahoea, the tame shark of the ancestor Mahikirau.

Others know the shark as Tumoremore. The shark's role is to keep the waters of the Turanga harbour safe and to protect the people who inhabit the area and the ocean resources which they use.

This kaitiaki is also associated with an unusual harbour tide that brings tiny fragments of dry seaweed ashore, sometimes in such abundance that the beach sands turn black. This tide is referred to as Ka U a Tumoremore and is a sign that seafood is available in great abundance in the bay - both shellfish and fish. It signals the arrival of a time of plenty for the people. Bountiful food gathering can be expected to last for three or four days during Ka U a Tumoremore.

The shark depicted on the ridgepole of the house Te Mana o Turanga, Whakato Marae, is thought to be the guardian shark of the reefs. Photo: Nick Tupara

Other kaitiaki on the reefs include giant stingrays and large schools of the same fish. Within living memory, the people of Ngati Oneone were informed that a stingray of immense size had been shot by a local Pakeha out fishing near the reefs. They immediately recognised this stingray to be the kaitiaki of the reefs. Three prominent members of the hapu lifted the stingray out of the water onto the rocks and held a tangihanga (funeral rites) for it over three days, as they would over a human being who had died.

During that time they sought approval (tono) from the divine world to take care of their kaitiaki and give them another to ensure that their reefs would be kept secure. From this time on, large schools of stingray have always been found on and around the reefs, taking care of them.

Nga Kohatu (the reefs) are thus an important Maori site, where significant events have taken place. They are sacred to the iwi, hapu and whanau of the region in traditional, ritual and spiritual senses.

Once Nga Kohatu had been registered as a wahi tapu area, the Maori Heritage Council, in accordance with section 32.4(a) of the Historic Places Act, recommended to the Gisborne District Council that the area be protected from inappropriate activities and that full protection of the area be adequately provided for in the regional and district plans and any management plan arising from them.

At the time of writing, Nick Tupara was a member of the staff of the Maori Heritage Division of the Historic Places Trust.